StarTech.com 3-Port Portable USB 3.0 Hub plus Gigabit Ethernet - Aluminum with Built-in Cable~3-Port Portable USB 3.0 Hub plus Gigabit Ethernet - 5Gbps - Aluminum with Built-in Cable

Product Overview

AI-generated summary

For £37.42 ex-VAT, this StarTech portable hub with built-in Ethernet is a decent “get me connected anywhere” option—especially if you’ve got laptops that only have a couple of USB ports and you keep getting stuck on flaky Wi‑Fi in meeting rooms. The aluminum build and the built-in cable are genuinely practical: it feels more rugged than cheap plastic hubs, and the cable saves you from the classic “where did the adapter go?” problem. In real office use (conference rooms, hot-desking, small warehouses with basic networking), it’s the sort of accessory that just removes friction.

That said, I wouldn’t buy it for people who need high throughput or lots of peripherals. The Ethernet is fine for normal business traffic and typical file access, but if you’re running bandwidth-heavy workloads (video transfers, large backups, constant data syncing), you’ll likely want a more robust docking solution. Also, because it’s categorized as a USB 3.0 hub, compatibility quirks can happen on certain older or unusual host controllers—worth testing on the exact laptop models your team uses before rolling it out broadly.

**Who should buy it:** busy staff who travel between desks/rooms, IT techs who need a quick Ethernet + extra USB expansion in a bag, and anyone who values reliability over maximum performance. **Who should skip it:** heavy data users, people building a full “desktop replacement” setup, or teams that want a single hub to handle everything long-term without testing.